Bloom on the verse of Obama: "Meh."

Rebecca Mead reveals in the current (July 2) issue of The New Yorker that a young Barack Obama wrote poetry - is there anything he can't do? She has Yale lit prof and cultural commentator Harold Bloom take a look-see. His take? Not bad, but not exactly good, either. One piece, he says, shows "a kind of humane and sad wit."

Imagine having a president with wit of any kind - humane, even! Although, Bill had a sharp enough mind and look how that went. Obama, though, back in the day, was riffing on underwater ape colonies and things of that nature, which suggests to me a depth of imagination that previous presidents could only dream of.

On a related note, Ronald Reagan's diaries came out recently. Reads like the dutiful log entries of a somewhat literate - but not at all reflective - and mature teenager, with the barest, most basic descriptions and details.